Term Paper on "Old Man and the Sea by Ernest"

Term Paper 6 pages (1880 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is marvelous piece of writing basically because of its lucidity and simplicity. Yet the story contains important messages and philosophies, which can only be read between the lines, and through close analysis of Santiago's monologues, daydreams and thoughts. The one message that consistently runs throughout the novel and is repeatedly highlighted is that man must continuously fight against unfavorable forces even if he is certain of the futility of his struggle.

Santiago is an old fisherman who has unfortunately not been very successful at catching fish lately. His business suffers while he loses his young companion, a boy named Manolin whose father wants him to work for more successful fishermen. But Manolin loves Santiago and brings him food everyday. They spend time together talking about their favorite sport i.e. baseball.

While Santiago is an old man with hardly any real strength left, he must battle both physically and mentally against external forces that have lately been very unkind to him. The old man is pitted against the sea, which symbolizes a great force and sea life as allies of that force, and while Santiago knows that he may not succeed, he is required to continue fighting. This continuous struggle is in line with Christian belief that despair is unforgivable. He watched only the forward part of the fish and some of his hope returned.

It is silly not to hope, he thought. Besides I believe it is a sin. Do not think about sin, he thought. There are enough problems now without sin. Also I have no understanding of it. I have no understanding of it and I am not sure that I believe in it. (104-5)"

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The author, through his protagonist, tries to show that it is the nature of man to fight even he doesn't get the reward he was hoping for because surrender is not acceptable. Running away from the battlefield is a sign of timidity and it is the bane of this life that man must keep struggling just to keep himself alive even if there awaits him no other reward at the end of his journey. In other words, Hemingway highlights the philosophy that John Killinger puts in these words, "God is dead in our time, and the traditional ethic is invalid," and the only option available to man is to preserve himself through "aesthetic and ethical" experiences (98-99).

Hemingway saw the forces that man must battle against as evil, unkind and often more powerful than the man himself. We see how Santiago struggles against sea forces, which ultimately triumph over him and take away with them his dreams of achievement. But on the positive note, we see that his struggle bore him fruit since while Santiago lost the fish, he managed to save his own life. The novel focuses on the idea of human dignity that man wants to preserve at all costs even when he is aware of the futility of his battle. Santiago is a brave man who believes in such values as valor, honor and courage and subscribes to the philosophy 'Never say die'. In this connection Joseph Petite observes, "Santiago, plain and unsophisticated, is man in the natural state, a perfect subject for this trial. He has only the strength of his spirit and his determination to sustain him. The fishing episode here is... A crucible, a battle where the issue is whether a man wants badly enough to struggle to assert his own existential value" (162).

Hemingway's Santiago returns home with wounds that he wears as badges for his valor but which signify a man's perpetual struggle that often bears nothing. Man is thus caught in a vicious circle of labor and loss. "The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles on the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropical sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert" (9-10).

Santiago's enemies are tireless forces that refuse to surrender. As he ferociously battles against sea creatures, first the fish itself and then the sharks who are hell bent on taking Santiago's reward away from him. Santiago knows he might lose the battle but like the forces against him, he is also determined. Fortitude is clear from his attempts to kill or repel his enemies. Santiago first hits them with a harpoon "without hope, but with resolution and complete malignancy" (102). But as he loses the harpoon, he continues to battle with unsophisticated weaponry desperately created from the available material in the boat. He is stubbornly optimistic: "some of his hope returned. It is silly not to hope, he thought. Besides I believe it is a sin" (104-105). But he eventually loses the battle: "Now they have beaten me, he thought, I am too old to club sharks to death. But I will try it as long as I have the oars and the short club and the tiller" (112). But his battle is futile as he loses the marlin to the sharks and then having lost everything, he faces the sea and its creatures with renewed courage as he scornfully says: "Eat that, galanos. And make a dream you've killed a man" (119). But Santiago also represents man's ability to forget his misfortune and to continue with his life. Santiago is capable of putting behind the whole unfortunate experience. "It is easy when you are beaten. And what beat you, he thought. 'Nothing, he said aloud. 'I went out too far'" (120). And he consoles himself that the whole episode meant nothing: "The thousand times he had proved it meant nothing. Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time, and he never thought about the past when he was doing it" (66).

Some people may question Santiago's decision to go out too far. This has often been discussed and analyzed and it is learned that Santiago's decision was reflective of his desire to participate in life. Hemingway highlights the significance of participating actively in life and its decisions without fearing the outcome. Charles Taylor emphasizes the life-affirming actions of Santiago and argues that the protagonist's actions accentuate "the value of the heroic individual taking the greatest risks in order to achieve the greatest fulfillment." The old man's "need to 'prove himself'" over and over again is "the need to participate in life and affirm it in the highest manner possible by going far out" (642). Christoph Kuhn agrees with Taylor and points out that "Santiago's adventure has more in common with Nietzsche's notion of tragic affirmation of life than with the Christian themes of sin, punishment, and salvation" (224).

Kuhn's comments are reflective of Santiago's own thoughts on Christian beliefs. He may not believe in despair but he is not overly obsessed about what constitutes sin. Santiago's actions are symbolic of man's need to fight consistently without surrender without hopes of a suitable reward. Santiago is aware of the significance of his struggle at sea but refuses to equate with Christian tradition of suffering as he says: "I have no understanding of it [sin], and am not sure that I believe in it" (105). He believes that it is not his job to worry about sin for he is only concerned with survival. "Let them [priests] think about it. You were born to be a fisherman as the fish was born to be a fish" (105).

There are some other commentaries and critical analyses, which have focused on the Christian motif of suffering in the novel. But while the motif runs in the novel, it has little to do with Santiago's need to consistently battle against unkind forces. The protagonist undertakes this struggle only because that is the way life is meant to be. He refuses to interpret his suffering according to Christian beliefs but critics such as Wirt Williams find a consistent Christian motif in the novel. Williams argues that those who see the novel as a "naturalistic tragedy" or a "parable of art and artist" -- must also focus on Christian parallels in Santiago's story such as: "the agony of his [Santiago's] back braced against the line (in the New Testament reference, Jesus' back against the cross); the easing of the contact with a burlap sack (the cloak or robe); the raw rim his straw hat makes on his forehead under the scorching sun (the crown of thorns); the bleeding hands (the nail wounds); the forcing of his face into the raw dolphin (an act of communion), his hunger and thirst and the need to eat and drink to keep sufficient strength" (173,177).

Santiago uses baseball dreams to keep him going. This is another interesting facet of man's struggle. The only way… READ MORE

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